We don’t need this new stadium - we need something like the one Schoolboy Errors mentioned just above. A 45k stadium at Moore Park is a stupid idea and waste of taxpayers money. The State government will spend heaps more money yet we’ll look with envy at Parra being much more suitable for an A-League club (and any other entity who uses Moore Park for sport).
The stadium is not about whats actually needed but what the SCG trust want
You’d think there would be some great middle ground to be taken by someone with the sensible cheaper option. Point at Parra as a good example and how that’s the way forward - you can say we’re saving $300m or whatever it is and the upkeep will be less etc etc etc. But there’s still a great new stadium coming.
Wouldn’t there be contracts already signed etc that would preclude such sweeping political statements by stinging either party for hundreds of millions if they backed out?
I don’t think it’s at that stage yet, but I could be wrong.
$750M or so is loose change for the state budget, but Daley is cleverly pitting those who want the stadium vs those who don’t care for it or are opposed to it.
“Money for schools and hospitals” always sounds good but need to be put into context.
Why can’t the current state govt commit the money now, voter backlash perhaps? The project is too far advanced to be binned now.
They’ve already started gutting it, seats are gone, screens gone, no idea what else has been taken out already
Given that there will be a revenue downturn corresponding with the decline in house prices and that there are a number of other contracts (Light Rail, Westconnex, etc) that have blown their budget, I think that demolishing and then trying to rebuild the SFS prior to either the next State Election or the opening of Parramatta Stadium was always a ridiculous proposition.
The SCG Trust has proposed a 65,000 seat stadium in an area which does not currently cope with a sold out Derby and despite the three main tenants at the stadium asking for a 25,000 stadium. What is actually needed (particularly by Sydney FC as we play in summer) is a 25,000 seat stadium with a retractable roof and climate control.
If the current state government proceeds with the SCGT’s proposal, there will either be a white elephant or a big hole and no money to fix either. In my opinion, the opposition is right to put the brakes on the process.
What I don’t understand is why stadium designers in Australia (Sydney in particular) keep trying to reinvent the wheel and keep failing.
There are probably hundreds of stadiums across the world that are better designed than anything we do in Australia, it beggars belief that the Govt doesn’t simply license one of those designs and build it here.
Western Sydney Stadium is probably the first decent stadium to be built in Sydney in a generation, if not forever.
It’s because if you’re going to spend the money, you may as well try and get something unique. If you want Sydney to become the premier sports city in the country, then the government will want something that comes to symbolize Sydney. In the same way that you have Anfield, Nou Camp, Bernebau etc. They are all synonymous with their teams and cities.
They can do that fancy iconic shit with the Olympic Stadium. It has that cachet of being the Olympic Stadium.
They shouldn’t be doing that with a stadium for a bunch of clubs neither of whom are likely to average over 20k attendance. There is no cachet to the SFS and never will be…unless it becomes THE Sydney stadium and they get rid of Homebush.
The extra 10-15k capacity will cost all us taxpayers more, while giving us something worse.
Agreed. But for whatever reason the libs don’t agree and selected a cheap cookie cutter stadium design rather than something unique and exciting.
Those stadia are iconic because of the teams that play there, nothing to do with the design.
Any replacement for the SFS needs to be functional and have the punters in mind first and foremost. Covered seating, ease of access, good facilities, strong choices in terms of food/drink and so on.
I doubt we’ll get anything close to market leading in any of the above, plus it sounds like it’ll be too big for all the tenants.
I get the interest in a 25-35K rectangular stadium in central Sydney. But that really only caters to average crowd demands and not peak events such as concerts, NRL Finals, Sydney derbies and other similar marquee matches. What happens for these events? Do they shift to the even larger Homebush stadium? Additionally, would the construction costs of a 35K stadium be significantly less than a or 50K?
I think the proposed design with 2 modes is perfect. One mode which is limited to the lower bowl for typical use and the second mode which opens up the top tier. I always felt the SFS had a great atmosphere when the lower bowl was full, and the views were largely good no matter where you sat. Even the Bay 23 end was decent considering it was the cheapest category seating.
On top of all this, the SFS does not meet current safety regulations and needs be significantly upgraded at a cost which is in the ball park of new stadium construction costs. Whilst I agree 100% that schools and hospital funding should be the priority, we should not let that detract from the urgent need of an SFS upgrade.
I like the idea of club mode vs “championship mode” as they call it. But the capacities are 30k and 45k respectively. I think the sweet spot would have been 25k for club mode. On that point, I really hope that they don’t predetermine the mode before tickets are actually sold - i.e. they don’t just put it in championship mode for a big blue if they think they’ll get beyond 30k without actually hitting it first.
Still, I think it would have been better to have a 25k-30k stadium for Allianz, and yes, move the bigger events to ANZ. ANZ should be the stadium to have the multi-mode config so that if you expect a 40-45k crowd you play it there in that stadium’s smaller mode. 25k-30k is the right size for A League, NRL and Rugby.
Don’t underestimate the power of restricting supply to increase demand. If you had a 30k stadium for Allianz, we could actually sell out games against victory (and return to the types of crowds we used to get for that fixture). If people think there’s a chance to miss out then they are more likely o jump in and buy tickets. I’m also not sure that we’ll return to 45k crowds for the derby. Now that they’ve been going for a few years and there are at least 3 fixtures per season, the appeal seems to have dropped a bit. I think about 35k is what you’d expect. So to sell out a 30k stadium and leave at least 5k people wanting, you’re increasing the appeal and driving up your memberships, as a membership is a guaranteed seat at every derby. The original Parramatta stadium with its 20k limit was one of the most significant reasons why WSW had early success with supporters and it drove up membership numbers.
Aye. A shithole but served up a great derby atmosphere Similar capacity to Kogarah but so much better for being a rectangle.
Yeah, still felt like a proper stadium (while being completely rundown) but was the perfect size for a new club coming into the league.
I went to a game in Ingolstadt a few years back - happen to be there and thought I’d check out how Leckie was doing. Their stadium is a 15k stadium that was built with the option to add capacity in future. While it’s only 15k, when you’re inside and it’s full it has a great atmosphere. The stands are really close to the pitch and you just feel on top of the game. Not suggesting we go with a 15k stadium, but having a smaller stadium is going to give you consistently better atmosphere. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have 13 games for which the majority of them are near capacity with a great atmosphere, still with the ability for the atmosphere and tensions to increase for “big games” like derbies, instead of say 11 games where any atmosphere is average, overshadowed by the rows and rows of empty seats in a cavernous stadium, but 2 games are massive with an great atmosphere as a result of a larger crowd.
It’s all well and true to dream about certain size stadiums, but at the end of the day, the SCG trust is going to want to maximize the potential profit they get out of a stadium. The more seats the better, they couldn’t give a flying crap about ANZ and sharing games. Trust is setting themselves up to have the biggest stadium they can realistically fit and then they can old bigger events.
People need to remember, at the end of the day, it’s a competition and we’re only one of the tenants at SFS. They hold concerts, finals series etc. Atmosphere or no atmosphere, at the end of the day, you choose between SFS, center of the city, or ANZ, middle of Homebush, you don’t exactly have much more competition for big events in Sydney.
I’m not referring to what’s best for the SCG trust, rather what’s best for the tennants and fans. Of course the trust want a big stadium, but that’s not what the city of Sydney needs.
I liked Parramatta stadium, for mine it was the best of the suburban grounds good views close to the action & provided a good atmosphere. Just don’t like the pricks that played out of it